Brooklyn Museum experience

Going into the Brooklyn Museum I wasn’t really too excited because I don’t really like going to museums. I feel like art is something you create and discover on your own, it’s a journey where you find what evokes you, not what someone has put in an area and labels art. As I walked around with my group members I saw the typical pieces of modern art that I was familiar with. As the night drew to an end I encountered a piece that really caught my attention I believe it was on the fourth floor? Anyway, when I first saw it I thought I didn’t have my glasses on because it was very blurry. But when I realized I did have them on, I laughed to myself because it was crazy how this work of art made me question myself. As I looked at it I thought it may have been the artist trying to represent the future. It seemed futuristic with the jet black background and the blurry crystals which may have represented uncertainty. But when I read the information posted along the painting it told me that the artist wanted to portray the effect on AIDS and the ‘crystals’ were actually blurred hands and faces. They represented the people who lost their lives from this disease. I love how he didn’t use the color red at all even though that usually represents AIDS. It was such a great way to express loss that even though it was meant to be sad the painting actually made me smile. I feel like I shouldn’t have been smiling, but now I realize that no matter what works of art will stimulate different responses regardless of what the artist paints. It was the highlight of my night.

Painting: Green Hands and Faces
Artist: Ross Bleckner